CHARD Town will be looking to take out their frustrations on Portishead Town when the Toolstation league’s bottom club visit Zembard Lane on Saturday (3pm).

The Robins should have been out of sight at the interval after peppering the Wincanton Town goal in the first half last weekend. But after taking the lead they went on to lose 2-1.

Manager Adam Fricker said: “In the first 45 minutes we played some of our best football of the season and it wouldn’t have been flattering if we had gone 8-0 up.

“We had half a dozen one-on-ones and although their keeper put in a man-of-the-match performance we should have taken enough chances to be out of sight.”

Ed Butcher gave Chard the lead after 20 minutes when he outpaced Wincanton’s centre-half, worked himself some space and fired into the corner from the edge of the box.

But not only did other chances go begging, the Robins also lost centre midfielder Lewis Gillman with a bang to the head on the half hour mark.

Andy Martyn switched from the right into his playmaker role only to become another injury casualty early in the second half when he pulled a hamstring.

With skipper George Chlopecki already out through injury, the Robins were forced to play the rest of the match without three-quarters of their regular midfield and lost control of the match.

Wincanton dominated possession, and although few chances were created, they did just enough to snatch the points.

The first was scored from a tight angle after a fine save from Jason Hutchings while the second came from a controversial penalty after a Wincanton forward was in contact with Ben Haines.

Fricker added: “It was very frustrating to lose like that but we have got to learn to take our chances.

“Fortunately Ed Butcher and Sam Clark are both looking really sharp up front so hopefully we can do a job against Portishead on Saturday.”